How a 29-Year-Old Gamer Built China’s Latest $1 Billion AI Unicorn
Chinese AI startup Vast has become a unicorn after raising nearly $200 million. Here's how founder Simon Song built Tripo, an AI-powered 3D content platform.
China’s newest AI unicorn did not emerge from a research lab or a corporate giant. It started with a gamer who wanted to make creating 3D worlds easier. Beijing-based Vast announced that it had raised nearly $200 million in fresh funding, pushing its valuation beyond $1 billion and earning it unicorn status.
The company, which operates the AI-powered 3D creation platform Tripo, is now one of the most closely watched startups in China’s fast-growing artificial intelligence sector.
The milestone is notable not only for the size of the funding but also for highlighting a broader shift in the AI race. While much of the attention remains focused on large language models, another battle is unfolding in the world of 3D content generation.
From gaming enthusiast to AI founder
The story is about the 29-year-old founder, Simon Song Yachen. A lifelong gamer, Song previously co-founded MiniMax, one of China's most prominent AI startups. In 2023, he launched Vast with a vision that sounded deceptively simple: make 3D creation as easy as creating content for social media.
The idea stemmed from a problem familiar to game developers, designers and digital artists. Building high-quality 3D assets traditionally requires specialised skills, expensive software, and significant time. Vast set out to remove those barriers through artificial intelligence.
How Tripo turns text into 3D objects
The company’s flagship product, Tripo, allows users to generate 3D models using simple text prompts or reference images. A user can describe an object in plain language, and the system automatically creates a detailed 3D model complete with textures and geometry.
These assets can then be exported into popular game engines, animation software and design tools. The technology significantly shortens workflows that previously required hours or even days of manual modelling.
Recent upgrades have focused on generating production-ready assets directly in three-dimensional space, reducing the amount of clean-up and editing required before deployment. For gaming studios and content creators, that efficiency can translate into substantial cost and time savings.
The next frontier in the AI race
The rise of Vast comes as 3D content generation becomes an increasingly important battleground for AI companies. Major Chinese technology firms are investing heavily in the sector. Tencent has been expanding its Hunyuan 3D platform, while Alibaba recently introduced its world-generation model called Happy Oyster, designed to create interactive digital environments.
This reflects a growing belief that future AI applications will extend beyond text, images and video into fully immersive three-dimensional experiences. Such technology could have applications across gaming, film production, architecture, robotics training, virtual reality and industrial simulation.
What comes next
Vast says the new capital will be used to hire AI talent, improve its 3D and world-generation models, and accelerate international expansion. The company's longer-term ambition is even bigger. Song has spoken about creating a platform where users can easily generate, share and discover 3D content, much like how social media transformed video creation.
Whether Vast can achieve that vision remains to be seen. But its rapid rise offers a reminder that the AI boom is producing winners in unexpected places. China's latest unicorn was built around a gamer’s belief that creating virtual worlds should be as simple as typing an idea.